Wednesday, January 16, 2008

SHOOT HORSES, NOT WHALES

The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service plan to trap and remove problem horses in Kosciuszko National Park has upset environmentalists, who want the animals killed from the air:

Andrew Cox from the National Parks Association says aerial shooting is the only real solution.

"I think we need to be realistic with this, we need to employ the best methods and the parks service has even acknowledged that aerial shooting is an effective method," he said

"It is humane, the RSPCA has endorsed it and if done by professional shooters, we will be able to get the results we want, which is to reduce the numbers of horses in KNP and to stop the environmental damage that's being caused."

Aerial shooting of horses is somewhat controversial; for one thing, achieving quick one-shot kills from a helicopter is very difficult, with many animals dying slowly after being shot multiple times. Oddly, one of the main anti-whaling arguments is that harpooning is cruel because many of the animals die slow painful deaths. Maybe horses are too stupid to notice.